Guatemala, 1995

It is a pleasant duty for my

delegation to welcome the election of Mr. Diogo Freitas

do Amaral to the presidency of the General Assembly at

this especially solemn session. He will be presiding over

a session which for the first time will hear statements by

virtually all the world’s leaders. We are convinced that

his experience will guarantee the success of our work.

I wish also to convey our appreciation to

Ambassador Amara Essy for the exceptional ability and

efficiency with which he guided the work of the General

Assembly at its forty-ninth session.

Nor can I fail to convey to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, my Government’s gratitude

for his tenacious efforts for peace during a time when his

outstanding diplomatic talents have been put to a hard

test.

Any institution tends to shape its own life, which is

not always consistent with previous models. Thus,

however much those who carry out the provisions of a

founding document may venerate that document, they

cannot prevent an organization from transcending to some

45

extent the founders’ original wishes. Moreover, the older

the founding document the greater the disparities between

the original conception and the institution’s functioning and

practices. Obviously, the great changes that have taken

place and the new hopes for the end of a century can only

intensify this phenomenon.

For the United Nations to have escaped this trend

would have been impossible, especially when it was

dictated by circumstances. A half century has passed since

the founding of the United Nations; none of the founders

could have imagined the spectacular, dizzying changes that

have come about since the San Francisco conference. We

must remember that, as a legal constitutional instrument,

the Charter needs a contemporary purpose-oriented

interpretation in order to be properly understood.

With respect to the operational activities of the

Organization in the economic and social spheres, few could

have thought in 1945 that these would have acquired their

present scope. Nor would anyone have thought that

Article 2 (7) of the Charter would permit the Organization

to become a legitimate champion of respect for human

rights throughout the world.

We pay a well deserved tribute to the extraordinary

skill of the representatives of Member States in devising

negotiated formulas that have made it possible to snatch

from what seemed to be imminent failure global agreements

of great importance — and all the more sound for their

having been achieved through a balanced consensus.

Although we might have certain reservations about

some specific elements of the functioning of the

Organization, in general my Government hails the United

Nations system’s great ability to adapt to circumstances as

it addresses problems calmly and with realism. While we

pay tribute to these noteworthy virtues of adaptability,

productive pragmatism and the ability to scale high political

hurdles, our admiration should not blind us to the need for

reform, a need we are already beginning to face up to. Such

reform would enable us to remove the Organization’s

failings and shortcomings and thus make it more efficient

and democratic so it can resist the unilateral practices that

would supplant it.

Among the most striking features of today’s world are

nearly incredible disparities and paradoxes. Although

speaking of these is a commonplace here, we cannot fail to

note that the wealth of most inhabitants of a tiny minority

of countries is in marked contrast to the great difficulties

and deprivation endured by three quarters of the

inhabitants of the planet, who are prevented from

competing on the international market, even with their

commodities, by administrative restrictions, subsidies and

discriminatory policies. There are places where the most

sophisticated products of modern technology are the

common tools of the worker; there are other places where

you can travel great distances without seeing any

technology more advanced than that used in biblical

times. It is hardly necessary to note the contrast between

the extreme poverty of so many human beings and the

vast expenditures on weapons. As to democracy and

human rights, we acknowledge the increasing world

awareness of those ideals — although we share concerns

about the relativism with which they are applied and

about the way they are used to exert political pressure and

even to trade in influence.

It will unquestionably be necessary to overcome

those contradictions. We are sure that if that goal is

achieved, even partially, the credit will belong largely to

the United Nations, which by the terms of Article 1 of the

Charter is

“a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in

the attainment of ... common ends”.

No Guatemalan can hear or utter the word that is at

the very core of this Organization — “peace” — without

immediately thinking of the most important problem

besetting my country. Because of a fratricidal struggle

promoted largely by a cold war that was alien to us, a

struggle that for more than 30 years harmed thousands of

families, endangered democracy and unleashed human

rights violations by parties to the conflict, today the most

fervent desire of the people of Guatemala can only be

reconciliation and a firm and lasting peace. If this has not

yet been achieved, it is not because of any lack of effort,

patience and great tolerance by the democratic

Government and, as is known, by the international

community, which has acted principally through the

Group of Friends and through the United Nations,

specifically through the Secretary-General.

The Government of Guatemala thanks all who have

contributed to the functioning of the machinery set up to

help further our national goal of peace, reconciliation and

development, especially the Secretary-General, the

Guatemala Unit of the Department of Political Affairs, the

United Nations Moderator and the United Nations

46

Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of

Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive

Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala. We are also

grateful to the six Governments that form the Group of

Friends of the peace process in Guatemala for their

invaluable contribution to this arduous and painstaking

work.

The Government of Guatemala has spared no effort to

realize the aspiration of our entire nation to bring an end to

internal armed conflict. In the sphere of human rights, the

Government of President Ramiro de León Carpio is facing

a situation deriving from the armed confrontation that has

gripped our country for three decades, so the tasks before

us are intimately linked with peace-building. This prompted

President de León Carpio to sign the Comprehensive

Agreement on Human Rights of 29 March 1994, by which

he reaffirmed his commitment to principles and norms

aimed at guaranteeing and protecting full observance of

human rights by the parties, and his political will to ensure

that those principles and norms are respected.

As a result of that Agreement, the United Nations

Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of

Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive

Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA)

was set up in our country. It has been accorded the fullest

facilities and guarantees for its activities on our territory.

The implementation of some of the recommendations of

MINUGUA has met with difficulties owing to institutional

limitations; we are endeavouring to resolve these, although

it must be recognized that some provisions do not have the

impetus that would secure compliance in the short term.

Also, a Counsel for Human Rights is now at work in

my country; this is a post formerly filled by President de

León Carpio. This office retains and is enhancing its

prestige within the country and its international credibility.

The Presidential Human Rights Committee (COPREDEH)

is making ever greater efforts to ensure that the

recommendations are duly complied with. Reflecting my

Government’s political will, there are also preventive

mechanisms to avoid human rights violations.

I turn now to the process of Central American

integration, which gave rise to the signing of the

Tegucigalpa Protocol to the Charter of the Organization of

American States. The Central American Integration System

(SICA), founded as an intergovernmental organization, has

been working successfully since the beginning of 1993 with

the purpose of strengthening integration in the economic,

social, cultural and political spheres.

Guatemala hopes that — bearing in mind the

importance of the Central American Integration System,

which encompasses virtually all activities of the

Governments of its member States and which covers a

contiguous area of some 425,000 square kilometres

inhabited by nearly 30 million people — the General

Assembly will accede to the request made by Guatemala

along with the other members of the System and Panama

to grant SICA observer status in the General Assembly.

The Central American region founded the Alliance

for Sustainable Development to strengthen integration

based on democracy, improvement of the quality of life,

respect for and development of the vitality and diversity

of the land, and the multicultural and multiethnic nature

of our isthmus. We supported the establishment of the

Association of Caribbean States, and we are participating

in the World Trade Organization; these, we feel, are

proper forums to foster values that enrich society and

promote fair rules of trade. For similar reasons we shall

attend the Ibero-American summit to take place at

Bariloche, Argentina, and the summit of non-aligned

countries to be held at Cartagena, Colombia. We will be

at the upcoming Tuxtla II meeting and at talks between

Central America and other countries and regional

groupings.

Recently, we attended the Fourth World Conference

on Women, where my delegation supported

recommendations promoting the material and moral

advancement of women in keeping with ethical concepts

that respect women and grant them dignity and

participation with the right to complete equality.

Our contribution to United Nations efforts towards

the democratic rehabilitation of Haiti have taken the form

of a contingent of army specialists in peaceful operations.

This is the moment to refer to Guatemala’s

contribution to two important General Assembly

initiatives with respect to the development of legal

principles set out in the Charter: the well known

Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning

Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in

accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, which

was adopted by the Assembly on the occasion of the

twenty-fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the

Charter, and which my country introduced on behalf of its

41 sponsors; and our second contribution aimed at

promoting the use of conciliation as one of the means of

peaceful settlement of disputes between States set out in

Article 33 of the Charter. Guatemala submitted the first

47

version of these proposed rules to the General Assembly in

1990. At its 1995 session, the Ad Hoc Committee on the

Charter endorsed the final version of the proposed rules by

consensus and recommended that the General Assembly

bring them to the attention of States.

Consistent with our devotion to law and firmly

convinced of the benefits of peace and the importance of

mutual cooperation, Guatemala gives priority to the

peaceful settlement of disputes. Hence, in connection with

the territorial dispute with Belize, my country hopes that

there will be a decisive solution through a more realistic,

constructive and forward-looking dialogue, unconstrained

by any limits other than the principles of good faith and the

dignity of the parties.

Guatemala is vastly pleased at the indefinite extension

of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

and at the fact that this was achieved through a truly

historic decision, without a vote. Together with our

satisfaction at the indefinite extension of the Treaty, we

also feel pride, because Latin America is the least heavily

armed region in the world and, thanks to the Treaty of

Tlatelolco, is the only region that has become a nuclear-

weapon-free zone forever. We regret the resumption of

nuclear testing and therefore urge the adoption of new

initiatives to forge a new world order that would eliminate

nuclear weapons and in which security would be overseen

by international institutions sustaining the force of law.

That is why my delegation is among the sponsors of a draft

resolution to be submitted to the General Assembly by

States parties and signatories of the Treaty of Tlatelolco

and the Treaty of Rarotonga.

Guatemala has had the tragic and painful experience

of the laying of mines by outlaw groups, and we vigorously

condemn the use of mines and support all proposals

intended to prohibit them.

We note with satisfaction that the Middle East peace

process is moving forward. Guatemala hopes that wisdom

will prevail, which after so many decades of struggle and

violence will make it possible for peace to reign forever in

a land of such deep significance to three great religions.

Guatemala is pleased that greater use is now being

made of the International Court of Justice than ever before.

We are pleased too at the wide geographical range of the

cases before what can rightly be known as a World Court.

Recalling the precedent-setting creation of a Central

American international court, which is now being restored,

my country will venture to propose the candidature of an

experienced Guatemalan jurist for a seat on the

International Court of Justice; we are convinced that he

could make a most important contribution to the work of

the Court.

Following careful consideration of the items on the

agenda of the World Summit for Social Development,

Guatemala participated in that conference with the

greatest interest and with high hopes; the Summit was

addressed by President de León Carpio.

We are convinced that unless the fundamental

principle of universality is fully observed, our

Organization will be unable fully to attain its purposes.

We therefore urge consideration of the situation of the

Republic of China in Taiwan so that this country may

have a forum in which to discuss its future peacefully

with its historical brethren.

Fifty years after post-war statesmen conceived the

plan for a world organization intended to save succeeding

generations from the scourge of war, poverty and

ignorance, we must be optimistic in our assessment of the

results, for they have saved the world from the irreparable

harm of total conflagration. Although it is true that at

times the cold war flared up in local armed conflicts

encouraged by the rivalry between opposing super-Powers

which at the time seemed irreconcilable, today we breathe

a more tranquil atmosphere with respect to military

security. But that atmosphere is less secure with respect

to cooperation for development, because the rules of the

economic order sometimes forget that economic weakness

is not only an internal matter for States but is also a

responsibility for those who have achieved a more than

dignified standard of living and who have an obligation

to transfer resources and technology for the sake of

world-wide justice.

We close with the well known phrase of His

Holiness Pope John Paul II, which we invite members to

ponder: “The new name for peace is development”.